I'm looking to make a one shot for a few friends and have them be level 20 so they can feel unstoppable. I was looking at fun monsters to throw at them and Shadow Dragons sound neat. But the Monster Manual only has stat blocks for a Young Shadow Dragon. I'm wondering if lore wise do Adult Shadow Dragons exist and are they just not part of the Monster Manual? Even more insane, does an Ancient Shadow Dragon exist? What monsters have you thrown at your level 20 players?
MM just gave you an example of how you could turn a regular young Red Dragon into a Young Shadow Dragon version of that red. If you want it to be older/more powerful, just do what they did to the Young Red, to an Ancient Red or what have you. (Things like, change the breath weapon to Necrotic, and so forth.)
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There's a template for converting any dragon to a shadow dragon. You'll have to recompute the CR, assuming you care (though oddly, the most dangerous thing about a shadow dragon doesn't affect its CR: its breath bypasses death checks).
Shadow dragon is a conversion for the base dragon and could be applied to any dragon but there may be conflict with other templates like greatwyrm and dracolich. It would not be particularly difficult to convert a greatwyrm into a shadow dragon you'd just want to change up it's legendary actions and mythic trait as well. It's also worth noting the shadow dragon doesn't come with lair actions. You can use the same lair actions as the base dragon or any other dragon and just make them necrotic.
There are also some abilities which are cool to add to shadow dragons if you want it to feel a bit different to other dragon battles
Bonus action hide, either at any time like a rogue or in darkness
Invisibility, combos well with bonus action hide. Can be an action in darkness or a spell. Personal favorite is combing the spell mislead with a bonus action hide.
Intangibility similar to the shadow sorcerers umbral form. This can allow a shadow dragon to do something terrifying like fighting the party indoors
Shadow step, another shadow sorcerer ability that lets them teleport between shadows
Lingering darkness, the area of their breath lingers as magical darkness for a certain amount of time and possibly also does damage for those that end their turn there
Devil sight, the ability to see normally in darkness
Lethargy aura, creatures near the dragon need to make saves or be weakened possibly including effects like slow or giving disadvantage on strength rolls.
Aura of darkness, the dragon fights in the area of magical darkness or fog which it can see in due to it's blind sight and in which it gains resistance. This can be a spell like darkness or an ability.
MM just gave you an example of how you could turn a regular young Red Dragon into a Young Shadow Dragon version of that red. If you want it to be older/more powerful, just do what they did to the Young Red, to an Ancient Red or what have you. (Things like, change the breath weapon to Necrotic, and so forth.)
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Every stat block that you see is a template that can be combined with another template. Young Red Shadow Dragon is an example of what happens when you combine Young Red Dragon and Shadow. You could use the same Shadow Dragon template and quite easily incorporate Adult, Ancient, or Greatwyrm stats into it. If you chose to use a Metallic Dragon, I might suggest you lean towards Hollow Dragon as a template.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
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I'm looking to make a one shot for a few friends and have them be level 20 so they can feel unstoppable. I was looking at fun monsters to throw at them and Shadow Dragons sound neat. But the Monster Manual only has stat blocks for a Young Shadow Dragon. I'm wondering if lore wise do Adult Shadow Dragons exist and are they just not part of the Monster Manual? Even more insane, does an Ancient Shadow Dragon exist? What monsters have you thrown at your level 20 players?
Yes, they exist.
MM just gave you an example of how you could turn a regular young Red Dragon into a Young Shadow Dragon version of that red. If you want it to be older/more powerful, just do what they did to the Young Red, to an Ancient Red or what have you. (Things like, change the breath weapon to Necrotic, and so forth.)
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
There's a template for converting any dragon to a shadow dragon. You'll have to recompute the CR, assuming you care (though oddly, the most dangerous thing about a shadow dragon doesn't affect its CR: its breath bypasses death checks).
i am speed
Shadow dragon is a conversion for the base dragon and could be applied to any dragon but there may be conflict with other templates like greatwyrm and dracolich. It would not be particularly difficult to convert a greatwyrm into a shadow dragon you'd just want to change up it's legendary actions and mythic trait as well. It's also worth noting the shadow dragon doesn't come with lair actions. You can use the same lair actions as the base dragon or any other dragon and just make them necrotic.
There are also some abilities which are cool to add to shadow dragons if you want it to feel a bit different to other dragon battles
I think there are some more shadow dragon stats in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
^-------------- 100%.
Every stat block that you see is a template that can be combined with another template. Young Red Shadow Dragon is an example of what happens when you combine Young Red Dragon and Shadow. You could use the same Shadow Dragon template and quite easily incorporate Adult, Ancient, or Greatwyrm stats into it. If you chose to use a Metallic Dragon, I might suggest you lean towards Hollow Dragon as a template.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad